3-Day Springtime Menu for a Kidney Diet

Spring is a season of renewal—so it’s time to put away the hearty winter recipes and find new ones that celebrate more sunshine and warmer days to come. The DaVita^® dietitian team came up with a fresh three-day menu that helps incorporate all things spring into your meal planning when you’re on a kidney diet.

Kidney diet menu: Day 1

Breakfast

• Ziptop Omelet
• English muffin or toasted bread
• Jam or jelly, margarine or butter
• Fresh grapes
• Coffee or tea
• Sweetener or creamer

Lunch

• Blackened shrimp pineapple salad
• Low-sodium crackers or crisp bread
• Lemon cookies
• Lemon-lime soda

Dinner

• Stuffed green peppers
• Dinner rolls
• Margarine or butter
• Stuffed strawberries
• Sparkling water

Day 1 tips:

• Adjust Ziptop Omelet recipe for the number of omelets you plan to serve. You can make extra to refrigerate for an even quicker breakfast the next day. Reheat in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.
• Increase shrimp in the salad if you are on a higher protein diet. Use leftover shrimp to make shrimp spread with crackers for a snack.
• Make lemon cookies and serve as dessert at lunch or for an in-between-meals snack.
• Buy grapes to serve at breakfast—they can be used for the second day’s salad and for the third day’s dinner, dessert or snack.
• Use the extra pineapple as a snack or a dessert if you have leftovers once you make the blackened shrimp pineapple salad.
• Buy enough strawberries for the stuffed strawberries recipe, the second day’s pancake recipe and snacks, if desired.
• Leftover stuffed peppers are easy to refrigerate or freeze for a quick lunch or dinner later in the week.

Kidney diet menu: Day 2

Breakfast

• Egg in a Hole
• Homemade Pan Sausage
• Toasted bread
• Jam or jelly, margarine or butter
• Pineapple juice

Lunch

• Tuna veggie salad
• Sliced bread or pita bread
• Lemon cookies
• Home-brewed iced tea with lemon and sweetener

Dinner

• Slow rotisserie-style chicken
• Red wine vinaigrette asparagus
• Pasta tossed in olive oil and garlic
• Chilled or frozen grapes
• Decaffeinated coffee or herb tea

Day 2 tips

• Make a batch of Homemade Pan Sausage and freeze patties on waxed paper and place in a freezer bag. You can prepare individual servings quickly throughout the week.
• Tuna veggie salad calls for steamed vegetables, but you can add uncooked veggies if desired.
• Home-brewed iced tea tastes fresh and is free of phosphate additives compared to some canned or bottled prepared teas.
• Use leftover chicken from dinner for third day’s lunch salad.

Kidney diet menu: Day 3

Breakfast

• Cottage cheese pancakes with fresh strawberries
• Whipped topping or syrup
• Scrambled egg or egg whites
• Coffee or tea
• Sweetener or creamer

Lunch

• Lemon curry chicken salad
• Naan (Indian flatbread) or pita bread
• Cranberry juice

Dinner

• Cilantro-lime cod
• Lettuce, cucumber and carrot salad
• Basic salad dressing
• Steamed Rice
• Luscious Lime Dessert
• Lemon-lime soda

Day 3 tips

• Include the eggs if you need a higher protein breakfast. Use low-cholesterol eggs or egg whites only if you are concerned about cholesterol. Egg whites are very low in phosphorus.
• If you have time, make the lemon curry chicken salad the evening before so flavors can blend together.
• Look for fresh cod or any comparable white fish on sale this week. You can also use frozen cod, sole or halibut.
• The basic salad dressing recipe has only one milligram of sodium for two tablespoons, compared to 250 to 400 mg for commercially prepared salad dressing. It will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
• To jazz up steamed rice, add your favorite low-sodium herb seasoning blend. Make extra rice for a kidney-friendly fried rice dish later in the week.

Springtime snack choices

When you have a hankering for something in between mealtimes, reach for a healthy and kidney-friendly snack to hold you over.

• Chilled or frozen grapes
• Fiesta Roll-Ups
• Fresh pineapple
• Lemon cookies
• Low-sodium crackers or crisp bread
• Shrimp spread with crackers
• Strawberries

Spring into your 3-day meal plan

Celebrate spring by incorporating springtime recipes into your weekly kidney diet meal plans. Select from the three days our dietitians suggest, or pick from more than 800 recipes on DaVita.com.